Hello and welcome back to my channel! and it was about time for a German episode… Having received multiple requests on this topic I would now like to go ahead and explain what it is that I make money with and what it means to be a social media manager. You probably all know what social media marketing is And in most companies there is now an established position for the role of social media management. Or – and surprisingly also quite often – employees with other specialisations take on the posting on Facbook & Co. as a side task. But let's start with why social media marketing is even considered so important for a company!? Naturally, not all products or services require social media promotion and you will find that there is way more facebook ads on online courses or backpacks then there would be on car tires for example… Nevertheless, the trend in out digitalized world is towards online shopping, let that be due to laziness or because we prefer to read former customers reviews on a product or service before we purchase it. Being 'visible' online can therefore create a competitive advantage for most companies and one of the most effective strategies to get your website to rank high on Google is back-linking.
With that I'm referring to other trusted websites – including platforms like Facebook – linking back to your website and in a way assuring Google YOUR credibility. In consequence, a well looked after social media profile with relevant content linking back to a company's website can be extremely valuable for a businesses' online presence and reputation. The second reason for which companies should invest in their online presence is the opportunity of direct communication with potential customers. Personally, I have used Facebook messenger instead of a brand's regular hotline more than once, simply because I didn't want to wait or didn't have credit on my cell phone. You might already understand a bit better why social media is so important for most businesses and this also explains partially what it is that the social media manager is doing. Being a social media manager I would not only make sure all the company's information is provided and displayed on the social profile, I would also make sure that this information is up to date, e.g. is the phone number still correct, the address right or does the company have any new products or prices, anything the customer could be interested in…
After that, I would focus on filling these social profiles with life and relevant content – ideally on a daily basis. How often and when one should post on Facebook or Instagram, that is another complex topic but in general we say 'consistency is key'… same rules apply to the work of a SM Manager. 'relevant content' usually consists of a nice mix of event updates, pictures, inspirational quotes, product presentation… anything of interest to the potential customer. …and because nowadays we tend to buy a brand's reputation rather than a product itself, always confirming the brand image is very important. Of course I don't have to 'make stuff up' and especially as a freelance social media manager I don't have the necessary insider knowledge about my client's business and have to be provided with information and images in order to create posts for social media. I also don't have to sit in front of my laptop all day waiting for the 'perfect time' to post my client's posts I can use scheduling tools, such as Buffer or Tailwind that allow me to schedule my content hours or even days in advance, and all I have to make sure is that those post do actually get posted as planned.
The third responsibility a social media manager has is community management. This task includes answering comments, interacting with followers and encouraging feedback. What I love about social media is that we can use polls with multiple choice that allow our customers/followers to quickly select one. In my video on Instagram Stories (linked above) I am teaching you exactly how to do that but of course it's also possible on Facebook. Lastly I have to analyse my social media activity. That is not only important in terms of feedback to my own efforts, but can give me a better understanding of the demographics my client's potential customers have and how much each demographic (age group, country of residence, gender) group did eventually engage, click, buy…
The business profile of most social media platforms comes with an INSIGHT section that allows me to download a report in excel format, filter the most relevant numbers like impressions, cost per click, engagement rate (…) and send this information to my client. All these tasks I would do on a regular basis, – sometimes project based, sometimes long-term – and all I need for that is my laptop, my phone and a solid internet connection. That naturally makes the work of a social media manager perfect for a travelling digital nomad. My location independent lifestyle I touch on in some of my other videos (also in english!) here on the channel so in case that interests you make sure to subscribe and keep watching. I hope I was able to provide you with a better understanding of what it means to be a social media manager and also explained correctly why companies should nowadays have an established position for that kind of work. In case you are interested in the profession and want to become a SMM yourself please feel free to drop me a line below and of course reach out in case YOUR company is currently in need of one – I'm always interested in finding new awesome clients…
🙂 Thank you so much for watching and for your time and I hope to see you again in the next video..